# bamboo wife

> English word · Noun

## Definitions
1. In East Asia and Southeast Asia, a hollow bamboo bolster roughly the size of a human body, embraced by a person while sleeping during hot weather because its open structure exposes the body to cooling air flow.

## Etymology
Calque from Chinese 竹夫人 (zhúfūrén).

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/bamboo-wife